Returned to the internet cafe again. The heat there was stifling like an oven, making the pressure feel like that bandaging exercise in the Theramore Clinic to get your First Aid skill.

Speaking of Warcraft… :)

I log onto Morticai, only to see where he was (it’s been goblin years since he was active). I just flew him to Orgrimmar. (I can’t really play too long, or get into anything too attention demanding, at the cafe.) My friend was on. He lives just up the river from Heidelberg. He’s got a Tauren Shaman that is in his mid-40’s now. Keeps telling me about going to Zul’Farrak and all that. Nachmahd is the Tauren’s name. He too had some characters on Emerald Dream that he brought over. A level 26 Night Elf Druid and a Paladin. Nachweis and Nachricht. He has four characters, but for the life of me I can’t think of another German word starting in Nach-.

There is a new Massive Online Gamer magazine. First issue had an interview with the lead singer of Blue Oyster Cult. “Don’t Fear the Reaper” and such. (Boy, I liked that song when it came out. And Will Ferrel on SNL banging on that cowbell cracks me up to no end! “I gotta have *more* cowbell!”) Anyway, this singer for BOC, he’s got a lot of characters. All his charters have names that end in -it. Trapit the Hunter, Axeit a Warrior. Smash-, Rezz-, Bank-, etc. (On an RP-PvP server too.) “Don’t Fear the Reapit????!”

But, so, I wanted to get my buddies Alliance characters into our guild. I log onto Darkhand. I am the only one in my Guild that is on. And I don’t have /ginvite rights. :(

But, snap, (is that a good use of that word?), I’m alive in the world. I fly from Stormwind City to Ironforge. And Ironforge to Thelsamar. I’m bored. What can I find near my level? Quests. One in the Badlands. Recover some parts from some Ogres. Green. Hmm. Sure.

Mount up, ride out, leaping over trees. (I do that because my wife is jealous of my mounts >;) and she’s watching. I really need to get her to 40 on a character. I need internet access at home!) “He looks cool, doesn’t he?” Phantom Blade on his back, cool Feather Headress giving him lots of agility. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever,” she says. (It really is too hot to be in that cafe.)

So I find the Ogres, sneak into their camp, and then ambush the Ogre closest to the tools. Scrolling Combat Text is going wild! Record hit! Record crit! Record sinister strike! Record! … I guess if you’ve never been recorded a sneeze is going to set a record.

And being a Rogue is a whole different way to play. Have to worry about having a dagger in my hand to backstab. Changing weapon sets. Etc. But I cut them down quickly enough. I ride out and return the tools. And I get a new quest. Dustbelcher Ogres have some metal things. Off I go. Glorified errand boy. But this time my rusty Rogue skills finally sieze up. I am slain by an Ogre. Oh, the ignominy of it. I recover my body, and look for revenge. I find a hapless Ogre. I aim for a kidney shot and land a premature eviscerate instead. (So many talents to use, so much to relearn!) HACK HACK HACK HACK, it goes down. I get the metal part, but, meh, this needs better concentration to get back into the swing. I stealth out, and outside mount up, and ride to the base camp. I didn’t make a dent in my rested xp so don’t mind sleeping out under the stars for a spell.

Each class is very different. Each race as well. And Azeroth is a pretty big world. I can’t see myself tiring of it.